The Highwayman: City of natural lakes glistens in New Mexico

By The Highwayman

Saturday, November 17, 2012

"She took my hand and I felt the power of a whirlwind sweep around me. Her eyes swept the surrounding hills, and through them, I saw for the first time the wild beauty of our hills and the magic of the green river."

-- from "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

SANTA ROSA, N.M. -- Do you want to go scuba diving, but don't have an ocean handy? No problem. Just make your way to the Blue Hole. It's in the "City of Natural Lakes," 4,600 feet above sea level in the high country of New Mexico.

Welcome to Santa Rosa, 118 miles east of Albuquerque and one of the most remarkable little towns on the map anywhere. This city of only 2,750 residents and 4.5 square miles has more parks, recreational activities and historical attractions going for it than most towns 10 times its size.

Santa Rosa rose up with the railroad a century ago, and from 1926 to 1972 was a major stop along the "Mother Road" -- the legendary Route 66. But the history of the region goes back much farther than that. In fact, it goes all the way back to Coronado and the Spanish Conquistadors.

Just 10 miles south of Santa Rosa, along the Pecos River, is the little adobe village of Puerto de Luna, once the region's center of commerce and politics. According to legend (and there are lots of them in this part of the country), Coronado's Conquistadors built a bridge across the Pecos at this site in 1541 and watched the moon come up behind rock outcroppings, giving the place the name it retains to this day -- Puerto de Luna (Gateway of the Moon).

During the 19th century, PDL (as the locals call it) was the county seat of Guadalupe County, boasting a courthouse, a beautiful church, and the grand home of the area's most colorful figure, Alexander Grzelachowski, a Civil War chaplain, businessman, entrepreneur and good friend of outlaw Billy the Kid. In fact, by all historical accounts, Billy ate his last Christmas dinner at Grzelachowski's house in 1880 while being transported by Pat Garrett to stand trial in Las Vegas, N.M.

It is a short, relaxing drive on Highway 91 to Puerto de Luna through rolling, green ranchland along the meandering Pecos River. Look for a couple of spectacular hacienda-style home on the hillsides overlooking the road.

Today, the old PDL courthouse is just a ruin, and the Grzelachowski Territorial House, built in 1865, is showing its age. But the church, Nuestra Senora del Rufugio (Our Lady of Refuge), built in 1882, still stands proudly and prominently, a testament to Pueto de Luna's glory days.

On Christmas Day 1901, the first railroad train steamed into the area -- into a brand new depot erected in Santa Rosa. By 1903, Santa Rosa had become the Guadalupe County seat, and PDL was on its way out.

In retrospect, that may not be such a bad thing. Santa Rosa has a lot to offer. There are six spring-fed lakes in the area, including Park Lake, which the city bills as the Southwest's largest swimming pool. Right in the heart of town, Park Lake is free to all. It features a 32-foot water slide as well as pedal boat and canoe rentals. Kids and seniors -- yes, only kids and seniors -- can also fish in two nearby stocked ponds called the Blue Hole Ponds.

Santa Rosa Lake, meanwhile, is only eight miles from town, surrounded by Santa Rosa Lake State Park. The lake is used for recreational boating, fishing, windsurfing and jet skiing, and the state park has campsites and well-equipped RV spots, miles of hiking trails and a visitor center. For fishermen, the lake is stocked with bass, walleye, crappie and trout.

But it is the Blue Hole that fascinates one and all in Santa Rosa -- and attracts scuba divers and wannabes from all over the state and the region. The Blue Hole is actually one of seven rare sinkholes around Santa Rosa connected by an underground river.

The crystal clear water in Blue Hole has a year-round temperature of 62 degrees. It is 80 feet deep, 80 feet in diameter at the surface, and 130 feet in diameter at the bottom. When the water is undisturbed, you can see all the way to the bottom.

The water in Blue Hole flows at 3,000 gallons per minute; thus, it is completely recycled every six hours. Visitors can cool off with a refreshing swim, or just sit and watch divers go to the bottom.

Adjacent to the Blue Hole is the Blue Hole Dive Training and Conference Center, with locker rooms and classroom space for divers. The conference area provides 9,500 square feet of meeting space, accommodating up to 450 people, with a convenient catering kitchen for business meetings and social activities.

There's also a privately-run dive store that supplies air tank refills and rentals.

And all of this is surrounded by miles of walking/running/bicycling paths.

You can access these facilities just off Historic Route 66 (Business Route 40, which runs all the way through town parallel to I-40) via Rudolfo Anaya Landscape Park, which is centered around a larger-than-life bronze statue honoring the Santa Rosa author and his most notable book, "Bless Me, Ultima," first published in 1972.

The statue depicts Anaya, a prominent novelist, poet and playwright who has penned a popular series of detective novels as well as children's books, sitting on a tree stump writing on a tablet. There's a fountain just a few steps away, and imbedded in the walkway are bronze replicas of hand-written pages from the book as well as plaques depicting scenes from the story.

On the other side of Park Lake is the Wetlands Park Project, a 116-acre habitat established to protect the endangered Pecos Sunflower. Maintained by the New Mexico State Forestry Division, the Wetlands Project provides valuable open space for recreation and education.

Wherever you go in Santa Rosa, you run smack into buildings and sites of historical significance. En route to PDL, Highway 91 takes you right past the remains of historic St. Rose of Lima Chapel and Cemetery, built in 1865. St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church is just up the road.

At the center of the downtown section, known as Old Town, is the stately old sandstone Guadalupe County Courthouse, built in 1909 and still going strong. The courthouse has been renovated and now has a fountain and bas-relief sculpture out front that illustrates local history, including a very clever segment saluting Route 66.

On the west side of town is an otherwise unremarkable railroad bridge that spans the Pecos River. But even that bridge is an attraction. It appeared in the classic 1940 movie, "The Grapes of Wrath," the highly regarded Hollywood adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel.

Although surrounded by all this history, Santa Rosa somehow manages to keep looking forward and staying ahead of the curve. Even the Santa Rosa Softball Recreation Complex is something special. The complex boasts four "replica fields:" Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Isotopes Field (Albuquerque). These fields host many U.S. Softball Association-sanctioned tournaments.

And when you're ready for dinner, Historic Route 66 is lined with neon-lit cafes and diners that give patrons a taste of the old days. In the Route 66 Restaurant, the bright red seat backs at the counter spell it out: R-O-U-T-E 66.

This "City of Natural Lakes" continues to make a splash. It knows where it's been ... and where it's going.